12. Financial Advisory Consultants Ponzi Scheme
Year: Mid 80s-2004
Approx. Amount: $300+ Million*
Company / Person Involved: James Paul Lewis Jr.
Over the course of almost 20 years, James Paul Lewis Jr. managed to scam over 3,000 people out of their savings by fronting as a Financial Advisory Consultant. In actuality, Lewis Jr. used the $300+ million of investor’s money to make himself wealthier and to fund his luxurious lifestyle. In 2004, everything came crashing down for James when, after nearly 2 decades, he was caught.
Financial Advisory Consultants Ponzi Scheme ©Indypendenz / Shutterstock.com
Due to the number of senior citizens who were taken advantage of financially by Lewis Jr., in 2006, after being convicted of a crime, that Judge Carney deemed as a “crime against humanity”, James Paul Lewis Jr. was sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $156 million, only $11 of which has been recovered to date.